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April 16, 2005
bon appetit (None for me, thank you)
Since I seem to be stuck on kids' issues lately, I might as well offer some additional observations. Ever notice that children's fables almost always deal with cannibalism? Just think of all the stories that describe some vile creature having a culinary desire for a tender innocent. To name just a few perpetuators (or should I say perpetrators?) of the theme: The Three Little Pigs; Little Red Riding Hood; Hansel and Gretel; Jack and the Beanstalk; The Gingerbread Man. All consumed or threatened to be.
Well, one may speculate as to whether such ideas are so healthy for our society. No wonder our little toddlers are sticking everything they can grab into their mouths. All of their role models are continually gobbling things up. (Trust me, the kids are fixated on the wolf not the dumb pigs.) Could this be the reason why so many Americans are over-nourished? Hmm, I don't know, let's discuss this over lunch sometime.
Let's be smart about children's stories. We need to use them to encourage children's service to us as parents. Take the nursery ryhme about Jack and Jill. Now there's an adventure you should never tell your kids about:
Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after.
Stupid! Do you really think your kids are going to be more likely to do chores after hearing this story? Unless you want to trudge up that hill and fetch the water yourself everyday, we better do something about this. We need chores to sound like a fun and rewarding endeavor. Hence, I propose we change the jingle to:
Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water
Jack found gold and Jill was told
She is a lovely daughter.
I think this is a much more palatable approach to storytelling.
Posted by fstone at April 16, 2005 9:14 AM
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